BlackBerry X10 QWERTY shots spotted on Instagram

This is what happens when you go digging thorough Instagram apparently. You stumble across some images of the full QWERTY BlackBerry X10 or as I still like to refer to it as - the N-Series - because, I'm not sold on the X10 name. As posted in the CrackBerry forums, they certainly offer up a nice look at the not-yet-final device that will be landing into consumers' hands. Go on then, start debating. Z10 or X10? Personally, I'll be taking one of each. Thanks, antheauxny!

Never thought about that until now...
what will i do with no back and end keys!
wont miss the answer key and definetly not the trackpad but might be weird without the back and bb button...
other then that i think this is the best phone they will release to date :)

"simply you won't need them"
That's what I'm thinking.
On the 9900 I find myself using the track pad and physical buttons just because they're there. I think with the new OS, my thumb will spend a lot more time on the touch screen. I'm willing to give it a try.

... and I like the overall design. It keeps the family resemblance to the 9900 (which is hot!)

Guys, the entire point of BB10 for either phone is it's all gesture based. So unless you've been hiding under a rock for the last 10 months, this should not come as a surprise to anyone. They aren't going to create an OS for a touch screen and a different OS for a QWERTY. There is no back button because you don't need one. And with regards to the track pad, there is one; THE ENTIRE SCREEN IS A TRACK PAD.

Yes, but with there being dozens of videos online where people are struggling with gestures due to the presence of a lip on the bezel around the Dev Alpha B and the training videos on the Dev Alphas showing gestures suggest starting most from the mic, this thing is going to be the biggest gesture fail of all time with only 3mm between the bottom of the screen and the top fret.

I'm really worried about BlackBerry 10 if I have to use keyboard shortcuts on one device and gestures on another. A consistent user experience on ANY BlackBerry 10 device is important and it does not look as if RIM gets that at all.

Also, please for the love of God shrink the damn icons, hide the action bar to make room for a third row and move them up a tad so the page dots don't over lap the icons when there is wasted real estate above the top row of icons. It just looks sloppy and like an after thought of the Z10.

A pointing device(track pad) and a touchscreen are two different things. I understand that you may be arguing for the direction that BB has chosen to go in, and that's fine, at this point we have to accept it. But don't tell us that it is the same thing, that is either dishonest or insulting, and I trust you don't intend either of those things. I like the way my cursor changes from a pointer to a finger when it is over active elements that I can click on. I like being able manipulate the small track pad area and move my cursor around the entire screen. It is a well established paradigm, and allows me to use my phone one handed and with precision. Will I be able to function without it? Of course, but they are not the same thing.

I agree. I'm trying to like it. I'm trying to accept it, but it just doesn't look quite right without the "smiling" keyboard like on my Curve. I want the QWERTY, but that touchscreen just keeps looking better and better to me...

Same here. I am actually confused by this design. And the touch screen version. This cannot really be final.

I still expect the real design to be revealed at launch and will look a little more like the high end bold with metal trim and the slightly curved keyboard. I still look at that thing with love. Stretch it a bit. Swap out the guts and glass and give me bb10. I refuse to believe this is the final design.

Look at that first picture, where the space bar meets the '0' /arrow key. That looks klunky demo case to me. And the big plastic looking band on the bottom of the phone. Where they have stamped not for sale. Cmon. This is not what they will deliver with bb10 please. I'll still buy it but please baby Jesus...

Notice how bla1ze highlighted "not-yet-final"? Since he knows what they look like I'd take that to mean that they won't look exactly like this, prob similar to how the z10 doesn't look exactly like the dev devices we had been seeing. Just my guess.

I'm happy with the design, didn't think I'd be. Now it's just a matter of release date. If it come out within 2 weeks of the Z10, I might go for the X10. Otherwise, if it takes too long, I'm doing the Z10.

I wonder if the overlapping will be fixed in the final product...its close to release apparently, and its still showing that overlapping, also I do not know how they would move the icons to not overlap the navigation parts...

Considering Thorsten was hardware guy at RIM before becoming CEO, and RIM has made some really bizarre hardware choices and has a reputation from about the Storm on of releasing 1/4 baked software lacking things that consumers think would be common sense, ya, it's good to wonder if RIM has learned anything, or if they plan to release the X10 as some hideous looking afterthought of BlackBerry 10 that had it's software optimized by the support dogs of two blind interns.

I love BlackBerry, but if the X10 software looks anything even close to this in two weeks at the launch RIM has failed with it and all of BB 10 will suffer as a result.

I hope BB 10 releases a large screen phone with a slide-out keyboard, like the BB Torch. Even though I heard the touchscreen keyboard was really good and accurate, I would hate being in the fork of the road and having to choose between two options, with significant trade-offs.

P.S. It would be funny if BB did release a Torch counterpart for the BB 10, called the Y10 (for several reasons).

Didn't RIM say that they are going down to two sizes of screens? The X10 is the square size. Meaning that if you want a bigger screen, it'll have to grow equally tall as wide. That could get quite awkward.

True but I was hoping that the width would be at least 70.6 mm the same as the Samsung Galaxy III... other than that not much they could do. I would have gone for a rectangular design rather than repeating the Bold 9900. I would not flip my BB9900 for the X10 as pictured.

We have no reason to think that the real X10 will be different than the prototype... same as the Z10 leaks proved out.

How much bigger can the screen really be, though? You don't want this to be a huge phone, that defeats the purpose. I think the screen is reasonably sized. It's still quite a bit bigger than the 9900, without making the phone itself seem huge.

The bottom bezel looks incredibly small. I will have to actually try it out before deciding.

I used my PB for messaging a lot, then went to my phone, then back to the PB and the physical keyboard is critical for me. Maybe I'll see how the virtual one is on the PB with BB10 before I make my final decision, but I can't get past the speed, accuracy and feedback of the keyboard.

I like the larger screen, but I prefer the look of the 9900 (with the curved "frets" and keyboard) to this. To me it looks kinda cheap like a chinese knock-off compared to the 9900 or the original bold (9000). I guess we'll have to see how things look when it hits the public!

Sweet! This already looks like a worthy successor to my 9900. Keeping in mind that this is not a final design, I'm suspending my judgment and holding my applause for Jan. 30, 2013. In the famous words of Bart Scott, CAN'T WAIT!!!

I'd like to see the back of this one, to see how it compares to the other leaked pictures of the x10. Also, does anyone know the name of the account this was posted from on Instagram? I'd like to Like it.

Luckily the screen is still developer status, because those icons are the only things that I'm going to complain about! Looks fantastic. Buying this as soon as it comes out on AT&T... Whenever that will be.

looks cool,,, is this a dev??? i see a serial #,,, i'm a full screen guy now that i've been on the 9850 for a while & started playbookin',,, it's nice tho,,, when i see one i'll mess w/ the keyboard just to feel it out...

Odds are that the UI stuff is being finalised at the moment so that it is ready for them to show it off at the launch and all these leaks are based on older software that just uses the same ideas as the all-touch untweaked.

I am definitely going to try both but I am not sure about the straight keyboard. Just seems unBlackBerry to me. Hopefully I am wrong though and it is the best keyboard yet and in that case i hope to get both!

The curve on the keyboard is a marginal benefit when typing with two thumbs and a negative with one so not a big deal that it is gone, the curving on the keys and the balance of the device are more important parts of the typing experience.

One of the reasons that I want BB10 to come out for the PB relatively quickly is so that I can try out the new keyboard, which will help me decide between the Z10 and X10. I have a 9780 so going to the X10 will still be a big step up in screen size.

design wise its ok i think the 9900 is better looking i find they should have keep the stainless steel band around the phone
as for the curved keys they could have kept it but this looks just as good to type on
the icons on the home screen need to adjust so it stop overlapping with the navigation dots on the bottom of the app tray

i hop bb10 has a proper custom equalizer mode and that it also keeps you equalizer settings when using bluetooth headphones in the music player :P

Bigger screen just for bigger icons, useless. The trackpad allows to explore/control every aspect of the menus or pages without your thumb being on the way. I've tried using the calendar on playbook and is so tedious! I rather do it on my 9900 and be done in less than half the time.

Coming from a 9900 I don't know if I like it so much? I feels like the design on my bold is better . & even tho its not the final version I hate the design of the back, well from the pics I've seen. I'm leaning more towards the all touch BB 10

Totally agree. Not sure why the X10 screen is so small. Should have made the X10 and Z10 the same size (not same screen sizes, but same total phone size).

I hope they have some strong market research behind this 'small square screen' decision that suggests people who would buy an X10 prefer a smaller total phone size.

Me--i love my Torch 9810. Best of both worlds!! But if I can only have one, I gotta go with the big screen Z10.

Still glad I went with the 9810 over the 9900--the 3.2 inch screen makes web surfing and many apps so much nicer than the bold. (of course the 9900 is awesome, but for me personally, the torch is where its at :)

I think this device looks nice, but I don't know how my fingers and eyes will like the 'flat' keyboard and the small touch screen.

A larger "Torch" type device would be interesting. Vertical so I can type emails and texts and IMs one-handed, horizontal when I'm doing something like RDP to a remote server. I'd like to not have to get out the tablet or the laptop every time I need to do a little quick system administration.

I don't like it simply because first and MOST importantly- I was expecting a larger and longer screen to have more real state to view webpages, pics, movies in landscape mode. Secondly, because being that this is BB10, a "whole new" OS, I was expecting something different and MORE appealing like that of the TK Justice or TK Vicktory.

I've asked in the forums to no response, so I will try here. Does anyone know if Z10, X10, etc will have programmable LED, auto off/sleep when holstered, dedicated camera key. Some of the things I loved about my 9900. CAN NOT WAIT TO TRY THESE PHONES! I'll probably opt for the physical keyboard, but as a long time droid user, I will tell you that the BB10 virtual keyboard looks like the best virtual keyboard....ever.

I am so happy to see that the service carrier is Verizon Wireless!!!! I like the appearance of the front, it's just the back in the other photos that concern me. Either way I need this in my life now, I need to get rid of this iPhone 5.

A 4x4 grid would probably shrink the icons further than they would like and I think that if/when they change them it is more likely to be a 4x3 or 5x3 grid instead.

We haven't heard anything from devs about new ui guidelines for these devices so the odds are on it being 4x3 with other changes to the ui providing that space rather than shrinking the icons too much.

HOW IN THE HECK DO THEY THINK WE LIKE THAT ????? I DONT!!!! UGH!
Sorry i just get angry everytime RIM does it bad at this time because, they must keep 9900 keyboard design to the new BB 10 QWERTY...I THINK SO...and we need a larger screen thats not enough...i dont like Full Touch phones thats why i dont have galaxy or iphone...i just like my BlackBerry at the moment...UGH!

HOW IN THE HECK DO THEY THINK WE LIKE THAT ????? I DONT!!!! UGH!
Sorry i just get angry everytime RIM does it bad at this time because, they must keep 9900 keyboard design to the new BB 10 QWERTY...I THINK SO...and we need a larger screen thats not enough...i dont like Full Touch phones thats why i dont have galaxy or iphone...i just like my BlackBerry at the moment. I hope this isnt the exact design. Big icons sucks though.

Most are talking about the software when they say it isn't final and that is clearly going to be true since all the resources will have been tied up with l-series to ensure that one is ready in time since that has a more defined date.

People who want a bigger screen but still keep a keyboard need to realize that:

Either the keyboard would be way smaller than the 9900, thus making typing really difficult.
Or you keep the same keyboard 9900 ratio, but add a longer screen on top.... and your phone would become 0.5 times larger and less compact. And you would complain about it's impractical size. The only solution for you guys is another slider phone... that lets you have a FULL touch device... but you somehow can slide out a bold 9900 keyboard from the bottom.

I myself wish they do another RE-Design of the UI / Menu and possibilities. Just steal some more from the competition if you must. But I really want to be able to have an active-frame on the lockscreen / home menu like win8 phones. So that I could see the weather or an RSS feed for example. Also they Icon-Containers should be re-done.
The black background boxes are just not that great, maybe they should invent a cool style of grid that is rendered between the icons and the wallpaper based on the amount of rows of icons and amount of icons in those rows.

The drawback to a taller phone would be worse balance when typing and when somebody has made the decision to go with the qwerty model, it would seem to indicate that typing on a physical keyboard was of paramount importance to them so this design seems to be a smart one since it isn't meant to be the flagship model that everyone buys anymore, that job falls to the l-series.

im not a bog fan of this new screen size. i think with all the screen buttons, the screen with become congested and leaving us with very little screen. i hope theres some secrets hidden when it comes to this phone.

but im sure RIM thought long and hard about what they are doing. so i trust them. il be taking one of each as well, thank you!

I'm glad I'm not the only one who won't miss the track pad. I've actually stopped using mine on the Bold 9930. I was seriously thinking just last night, "I'm looking forward to the day when those buttons aren't there and instead will have a larger screen." Just give me the QWERTY keyboard, a good touch screen, and I'll be good to go. :)

Cast your minds back to when the first images of the L Series BB10 phone leaked, many people (especially those in the CrackBerry family) were highly critical of the design and lambasted RIM for not being more creative and innovative. Then images of the near final Z10 appeared and VOILA...it's the most beautiful phone they've ever seen. Now images of the not-yet-final N Series have leaked and the phone is being criticized much like the L Series before it, therefore it's safe to assume that when near final images of the X10 eventually appear the BlackBerry faithful will love it. Same script, different phone.

impossibru. When I saw the bb9900 for the first time, I was like WAW, must have this phone even tho the BlackBerry OS was getting quite old by then...
Now I see this and I just see a stripped down version of the 9900. I dont wanna use a lot of touch and gestures on my phone, I have enough iDevices for that, I want a trackpad, a physical back button, a notification led,...............

really hope this is just a quickly assembled test model because atm, I'm not convinced!! (;_;)

Still on the fence between X or Z... Leaning towards X because of my lust for QWERTY - but I will try to get used to the Z10 as that large screen looks nice... If I can't get used to typing on glass - X10 it is!

Clearly the new X10 will be pretty much identical to the BB9900 except for the loss of buttons, straight keyboard , black surround and playbook black cover. It must be wider to accept the larger square screen?? It will be OK ...but really not a big improvement over the BB9900 except that you can easily check your mail while browsing. The larger screen and size is welcome ( to me) . Those who want small ... there will be some cheap variation I am sure.

Oh and the X10 should have the front camera, long life battery, better rear camera and more standard memory and a faster processor.

i have been a blackberry owner for 7 generations including the tablet and i gotta say as a Bold 9900 owner and fan of the keyboard...i am not feeling this keyboard design..as the article says is not a final product..so i will still await for the last revision of the device...!! i am feeling the full touchscreen though!! lol

Not impressive, maybe it's because it's not real! Time to post some HD pictures
if there are any available or stop these crappy ones. We will find out in two weeks what the actual one will look like!!!

If y'all remember the dev B was basically a final z10 hiding in a overly- thick non-glamorous plastic case . . I'm willing to bet this is the same, looking at the lower lip I'd say this is an N series hiding in an overly-thick non-glamorous plastic housing too . . Just my guess and mho.

I haven't read all of the comments concerning these pictures but I've read many of them. I'm no fan of touchscreens but that's me. It makes sense for RIM to go into that market since it is the current rage.

Like most of you here, I carry a Blackberry because of the qwerty physical keyboard and several other of it's features. That hasn't been fun lately with third parties choosing to no longer support their products on Blackberries. It appeared that my next phone was going to be a non-RIM phone. Going forward, I need to know that products will be supported on the new phones.

For business use, I need to have a physical keyboard. If something similar to this will be all that RIM offers, my next phone will be a different one. However, I don't think this is all that Rim will offer.

Looking at the carriers available in my area, most of them carry 2-3 models of Blackberries, which is generous with Blackberry's current lack of popularity.

There is a curve, which is either free or close to it, a Bold and a Torch. It is my belief and hope that the phones displayed here and in their final production, a phone similar to this will be either a bottom or mid-range phone. I'm hoping for a slider, like the torch, that will have a physical keyboard and full sized touchscreen. I would switch carriers in a minute to be able to have such a phone that was supported.

Among business users, there will always be a need for a physical keyboard. There's no getting around that. We're not concerned with games or icon collections, we're concerned with function.

+1 If I wanted an all touch screen, I would have jumped on an iPhone a while ago. Everyone creates software for the iPhone, it's a highly usable phone, but I held off because I like Blackberry's keyboard. Many, many people like Blackberry's physical keyboard. Why change it?

The one handed use of a BB is something you can't do on touch screen phones. And the trackpad was incredibly useful for pinpointing objects on the screen. I even played a better Fightin' Words than my iPhone counterparts who have to use a touchscreen to play. I use Facebook, UberSocial, message my friends and type into the calendar every day. I loathe onscreen keyboards. Hate it on my iPod, my Playbook, and my sister's tablet.

Going from the keyboard to a touchscreen to navigate and utilize software is like using a computer keyboard and a mouse together. It's annoying. I love that BB is back in the game and jumping on the bandwagon with the all touch screen phone. The new OS looks exciting. I don't know if the available (quality) software will actually compare with Android and iOS. It probably won't matter to me. But the keyboard just DOES. I will try this phone in the store when it comes out, but if it leaves me hanging out to dry, I don't think I'll be doing the Z10. It's a shame the folks at RIM felt they needed to revamp so much when ideally, in my mind, the new OS and the new touchscreen phone would have been sufficient. There are/were physical keyboard loyalists.

The lack of back button and Blackberry button ("left click") is an Epic Fail. As a loyal fan of Blackberry and the touchscreen bold, the beauty is that they have touchscreen gestures + buttons for very quick access to things. That has been the magic of Blackberry even before the touchscreen. I cannot believe they have put the Qwerty keyboard and then left those off. There was no "downside" to the buttons being there. An earlier comment made it sound as if leaving them there meant a different o/s for the Qwerty version. This is just not true. Nobody is saying remove the gestures, just that there is good reason to have both advanced gesturing as well as quick and dirty button / menu access. Most of us who have Blackberry devices love that we can be on a bus, train, bike, ski lift, boat, or even running and still accurately access information and key in messages.

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